The use of refrigerant systems for cooling of food and beverages in supermarkets and super stores, storage of food and materials in manufacturing and processing plants, etc. creates a major problem in maintaining the systems, and keeping the systems properly charged with a refrigerant. Release of the refrigerant into the atmosphere is detrimental to the environment and is a problem that needs to be regulated. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is demanding more and more accounting of refrigerant quantities supplied and used by these large users in order to determine irregular consumption and possible refrigerant leakages.
Typically, when a refrigerant system needs more refrigerant, a technician comes with a tank of refrigerant and connects the tank to the refrigerant's system. Once the tank is connected, the system begins receiving refrigerant from the tank. The traditional method for measuring the amount of refrigerant that has been put into the system from the tank is the technician lifting the tank and estimating the weight of the refrigerant that has been entered into the system. While the inaccuracy that can exist from measuring refrigerant in this manner may seem insignificant, when looked at on a much larger scale it becomes much more significant. For example, a nationwide grocery store chain could have several hundreds of thousands of refrigerant systems. If that grocery store chain is over-paying by even a small amount per each system, then when multiplied by the hundreds of thousands of systems they have then it can be a quite significant amount.
Because of new federal accounting standards for the amount of refrigerant being placed into refrigerant systems, large companies need to have accurate numbers for how much refrigerant is being placed or lost in their systems on a daily basis. Having this accurate accounting will keep corporations from having problems or violations under the EPA. The accurate measurement and accounting will also allow corporations to determine if they have any leaks in their system and correct these leaks. Correcting these leaks not only cuts cost but is also of benefit to the environment.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for accurately monitoring the amount of refrigerant put into a refrigerant system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for accurately monitoring refrigerant that goes into multiple refrigerant systems.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for accurately monitoring and accounting the amount of refrigerant put into a refrigerant system.